Springer Fork considerations

[AslansMonkey]

On my Military Bike Project I used a springer fork and, originally, caliper brakes. Later I converted to v-brakes as they give better performance but failed to notice a serious flaw in my designs.

If you look at my site you'll see that the front fender has struts that support the front and back of the fender off the axle. This point moves back and forth for the suspension action. The center of the fender, however, is supported by the fork stem, which does NOT move as part of the suspension. Between the flexing action created by this scenario and my cutting away part of the fender to make room for the caliper brakes to work I had a disaster in waiting.

As it is, I lucked out. I'd just finished an 8 mile ride and was walking the bike down the stairs to my apartment when the wheel locked up. Turns out my front fender had flexed in half (see photo below)

I'll replace the fender, but I'll find away to attach the center to a MOVING part of the suspension too.

DOH!

(information provided so that others can avoid the same boneheaded mistake).

[Finfan]

Yoiks! That could have been really painful! I'm glad you escaped this easily!

[Dan]

Glad your OK AM. Thanks for the heads up.